The Green Climate Fund To Be Based in South Korea, But It’s Empty

A new U.N. fund designed to manage billions of dollars to help developing nations combat climate change and called The Green Climate Fund will be based in South Korea.

The Board of the fund has selected Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea, the board of the fund over Mexico, Germany, Namibia, Poland and Switzerland who had also sought to be the headquarters.

In 2009 developed nations agreed to raise the amount spent on climate aid. That is currently about $10 billion a year, and the increase will take it to about $100 billion from 2020 to help developing countries curb greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change.

Interestingly there has as yet been no discussion about how the fund is going to raise $100bangladesh cyclone billion at a time when the developed world is facing major economic challenges.

The decision will be put to environment ministers for approval at a meeting in Doha, Qatar, from Nov. 26-Dec. 7.

International charity Oxfam welcomed the decision to site the fund in South Korea and urged action to fill it.

“The millions of poor people who need help coping with extreme weather events and destroyed harvests cannot afford for another U.N. Climate Conference later this year to close with the question of funding for adaptation still unresolved,” Oxfam climate change program manager David Waskow said.

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Walter’s contributions to CleanTechies over the past 4 years have been instrumental in growing the publications social media channels via his ongoing editorial and data driven strategies. He is the founder and managing director of Sunflower Tax, a renewable energy tax and finance consultancy based in San Diego, California. Active in the San Diego clean technology community, participating in events sponsored by CleanTech San Diego, EcoTopics, and Cleantech Open San Diego, Walter has also been a presenter at numerous California Center for Sustainability (CCSE) programs. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law where he teaches a course on energy taxation and policy.